Mobile Phones

Mobile Phones

Three quite different phones sit under one heading and the right one depends on who it is for. A flagship or upper mid range smartphone is bought for the camera and for how long it will keep receiving software updates, which is the specification that actually decides how long a phone stays usable. A budget smartphone runs the same apps, takes decent photographs in good light and costs a fraction as much; the compromises appear in low light photography, screen brightness and how many years of updates are promised. And an easy to use phone, with large buttons, a loud earpiece, hearing aid compatibility and often an emergency button, is a genuinely different product designed for someone who wants to make calls and send texts rather than manage a smartphone.

Beyond the category, four things matter. Storage, where 128GB is the sensible floor now that photographs and video fill a phone quickly, and where many Android handsets take a microSD card to extend it. Battery, quoted in mAh, where anything around 5,000mAh comfortably lasts a full day. The update promise, because a phone that stops receiving security updates is a phone that should be replaced. And whether the handset is unlocked, since every phone here works with any Irish network.

Samsung covers the largest spread through the Galaxy A series, with Honor and Nokia adding budget and classic handsets, and Doro supplying the easy to use phones. For cases, chargers and power banks see mobile phone accessories, and for landlines and cordless handsets see home phones.

Phone pricing follows the release calendar rather than the retail one: a new generation lands and the outgoing model drops immediately, which is usually the same screen and the same camera with a slightly older chip. That is the cheapest real saving in the category. Prices are live all year, so see what is reduced now on mobile phones on sale, or the Black Friday phone deals.